Malting
and brewing with buckwheat

Why brew with buckwheat? Because we can. Why malt buckwheat? Because we can,
but also because the Reinheitsgebot (the Bavarian purity law of 1516) says we
can only brew with malted grains. Ok, so we're not Bavarian, but it's fun to
pretend. Especially if we're trying to brew an authentic Koelsch style beer.

1. Getting the
buckwheat.

I found unpreserved buckwheat
groats at a local health food store. These babies are "groats"
because the outer husk had been removed (they look like grapenuts).
They also had whole "sprouting buckwheat," with a very dark husk,
which I suspected would lend a dark colour to the beer. Plus it was
expensive. So I bought a pound of the groats.

2. Malting the
buckwheat.

I soaked the buckwheat for
about 6 hours in twice its volume of water. It really soaked up the
water, and almost doubled in bulk. The water became quite slimy. At
this point I placed the swollen groats in my zap-pap lauter tun
(still useful after all these years), and placed the whole thing in
the bathtub so it could drain. Every few hours I turned on the shower
(on cold) to rinse the grains and keep them moist.

The buckwheat began to sprout
on the second day, and about 90% were sprouted on the third day.
Unlike barley, buckwheat does not grow rootlets first. It also
sprouts very quickly, even though our bathroom was cool (about 60F).
The sprouts were about 1/4 - 1/2 the length of the grains.

After rinsing the grains one
last time, I spread the buckwheat on a cookie sheet. I put the sheet
in the oven, and turned the oven on 150F. I turned the grains every
hour. After about three hours the house was filling with a wonderful
nutty aroma, and the grains were starting to dry. I then turned the
oven down to "warm" (about 120F) and left it overnight. By the next
day the grains were perfectly dry.

The malted buckwheat was not
very sweet, but more nutty (and very crisp or steely).

3. Brewing with
buckwheat.

I decided to use the whole
pound in a koelsch style beer, substituting it for the 5-15% malted
wheat usually used. The recipe (38 litres):

Tasting:

Excellent long-lasting white
head on a golden beer. The head is very creamy (perhaps because of
the buckwheat?). Aroma on both is slightly fruity, no malt, slight
hops (Saaz). The dry yeast batch is fuller, and maltier. The
buckwheat flavour comes through as a nutty, almost dry wheat flavour.
Perhaps grainy and less bracing than wheat. WY# 1007 is slightly
fruity, very clean, and slightly sweet but not malty. Body is light.
Balance is hoppy, with some Saaz character. Buckwheat is less
pronounced than with the dry yeast, but still present. Again, the
only way to describe it is "nutty, bready, grainy, similar to
wheat".

Final note:

Don't expect much fermentable
contribution from buckwheat - I calculated about 15 points per lb for
mine (although my efficiency was off with this batch, so it could be
slightly more). In a light style such as a koelsch, buckwheat lends a
wheat character, with some nuttiness. It also contributes to the body
and head retention.